Burge

The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) issued an order suspending the driver’s license of Jack Edward Burge on the ground that Burge had driven with a blood-alcohol concentration greater than .08 percent. Burge challenged that order at a DMV administrative hearing. The hearing officer determined that the evidence supported the order and upheld the suspension. Burge thereafter petitioned the superior court for a writ of mandate directing the DMV to set aside its order. The writ was granted, and the DMV appeals. Finding that the trial court’s decision was not supported by substantial evidence (see Coombs v. Pierce (1991) 1 Cal.App.4th 568, 576 [ 2 Cal.Rptr.2d 249 ]), we will reverse.

This appeal concerns the type of evidence which may be relied upon by a hearing officer considering if a DMV’s order of suspension was properly issued. At issue here is the hearsay statement of the police officer who arrested Burge and a printout record of the intoxilyzer test administered to him. Questions relating to the use of such evidence at DMV hearings have been the subject of recent cases, and certain principles have been developed.

First, the DMV has the evidentiary burden of…